In a letter dated August 5 and sent to the Managing Editor of the paper, Jah Johnson, US Ambassador to Liberia, Deborah R. Malac, said: “There is no factual basis for these stories” and “No such list was passed to President Buhari. There is no list for Liberia.”
Ambassador Malac indicated that “not a single journalist” contacted US Embassy in Monrovia to check the veracity of the story or to ask for comment, adding, “Our response would have been unequivocal.”
She continued: “This type of shoddy reporting is unacceptable and does not contribute to the development of your profession, or for that matter, Liberia.”
The US ambassador pointed out that US assistance to Liberia supports transparency and good governance by providing technical assistance to multiple agencies as well as funding and training civil society and media groups to act as watchdogs.
Malac said in order for the press to serve that function, it must be responsible, noting that the tenet of journalism is to verify information, saying: “Please do that next time.”
LINA JGT/PTK
US Envoy Refutes News Report On Corrupt Officials
6 August 2015, 5:02 pm Written by Joseph Toe, LINA
MONROVIA, August 6 (LINA) -The United States Embassy in Monrovia has refuted an article in the August 3 edition of the “Hot Pepper” newspaper alleging that US President Barrack Obama handed a list of corrupt officials to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari during a recent meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In a letter dated August 5 and sent to the Managing Editor of the paper, Jah Johnson, US Ambassador to Liberia, Deborah R. Malac, said: “There is no factual basis for these stories” and “No such list was passed to President Buhari. There is no list for Liberia.”
Ambassador Malac indicated that “not a single journalist” contacted US Embassy in Monrovia to check the veracity of the story or to ask for comment, adding, “Our response would have been unequivocal.”
She continued: “This type of shoddy reporting is unacceptable and does not contribute to the development of your profession, or for that matter, Liberia.”
The US ambassador pointed out that US assistance to Liberia supports transparency and good governance by providing technical assistance to multiple agencies as well as funding and training civil society and media groups to act as watchdogs.
Malac said in order for the press to serve that function, it must be responsible, noting that the tenet of journalism is to verify information, saying: “Please do that next time.”
LINA JGT/PTK